Farmers and public are short-changed by retailers' fat profits

A very good cut again, quite extraordinary, given that we took third-cut no that long ago.

Ground conditions are good, and this will bring the silage making operations to an end for this year and we can make sure that the fields are all set up for the spring, with no further vehicle traffic spoiling things.

It will be very interesting to have this silage analysed, as it is pure green leaf; looks like spring grass, but, what is it worth? We will find out.

Silage stocks for the winter are reasonable, although the maize yields are down. The extra grass growth has gone some way to compensating for this, and will be very valuable in the new year.

We now have some sheep to take care of the few paddocks that need a bit of a trim!

n Britain’s greenfinches are threatened by a disease which has ‘jumped the species barrier’ from pigeons and doves. Populations of greenfinches, dropped by a third in parts of England within a year of the emergence of a new disease, a new study reports.

Scientists from the Garden Bird Health initiative discovered that greenfinches declined dramatically after trichomonosis, a disease normally associated with pigeons, apparently “jumped the species barrier” and began to affect finches in 2005.

Populations of chaffinches, and other garden birds were also affected.

The cause of the disease is a parasite, Trichomonas gallinae, well known as a cause of disease in pigeons and doves, and in birds of prey that feed on them, but not hitherto in songbirds.

The parasite is vulnerable to dryness and cannot survive for long periods outside its host, so transmission of infection is most likely to be through birds feeding one another with regurgitated food during the breeding season; or through food or drinking water contaminated with saliva.

“These findings demonstrate that virulent infectious diseases can cause sharp population declines in common wild birds in just a short period of time,” said Dr Rob Robinson, a principal ecologist at the British Trust for Ornithology and one of the lead authors of the paper.

To determine the scale of the disease outbreak, the study used data drawn from public observation and a volunteer survey.

Further data came from post-mortem examinations of hundreds of birds collected from gardens across the country. James Kirkwood, chief executive of the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare and founder of the initiative commented: “Health surveillance of British wildlife species is crucial for us to recognise new and emerging disease threats that not only adversely affect the welfare of individual animals, but have the potential to impact entire populations.”

The Garden Bird Health initiative team is now investigating possible factors underlying the emergence of this disease and its continued impact.

It has been too easy to blame modern agricultural practices for the decline in bird numbers; now it seems that things are more complex.

n We had our ‘Farm Assurance’ inspection last week, where we are checked out to make sure that all is in order.

Without going into the detail, suffice it to say that all our paper and computer records are looked at, the milking facilities, the dairy; with all the relevant service details, chemical data, medicine records (which have to marry up with all the drugs bought), and chemical store.

Emergency routes for the stock (!) need to be displayed, building plans showing stocking density, fertilizer usage, and of course all our ‘Nitrogen Vulnerable Zone’ records.

The cow accommodation is also inspected, provision for adequate water, feeding space, bedding quality, concrete surfaces and so on.

There is a host more items, but we passed, and we can breathe easy for a while.

Chatting to the inspector, he confirmed my fears that overall he sees more and more units that are not having the investments needed in order to keep up the standards.

These are not bad units or run down units, but well run, tidy dairy farms that are not getting enough money for their milk in order to carry out the developments needed.

n Looking at what has happened in the last fifteen years; it is clear why dairy farms are being starved of much needed investment.

Since 1995, when the retailers were out to kill the door-step delivery with cheap milk in their stores, which meant a margin for them of 1.3p per litre at best.

Today, milk has increased in price (since 1995) on the supermarket shelf by 23p per litre (over 13p per pint) to 65.1p per litre, and the farmers share has dropped from 24.4p per litre to 23.8p, the processor’s share has increased from 18p per litre to 18.9p, and the retailers share has increased massively from 1.3p per litre, to 22.4p.

Little wonder that they can play around at will, discounting milk in order to attract footfall in the store with such fat margins; but no, they are taking some of this from the processors, who in turn fail to pay farmers anywhere near the market price for milk.

Farm-gate prices at the moment are running somewhere between 2 and 4p per litre behind the market, showing very clearly the real power of the retail giants.

The exodus from the dairy industry will continue whilst this abuse continues, and there seems to be no end in sight.

The NFU and the WI are launching a campaign this autumn, highlighting the problems in the dairy supply chain. It’s not just milk; the retail margins on cheese are even higher.

One could argue that both farmer and the public are being short-changed here, as retailers fail to pay a proper price to the farmer, but overcharge the consumer, pocketing fat profits.

It shows that retail food prices do not necessarily need to increase, as there is enough for all if it was properly and fairly shared out.